Thoughts on the 9.3 x 62 Mauser

[Paparock94]

I LOVE the 9.3x62 and only wish I could afford one now! Perhaps in the future. I owned and hunted with a ,375 H&H up in Wyoming. But I fell in love with the 9.3x62 at first sight. It is all one ever really needs hunting the timber for bull elk in grizzly country.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

I LOVE the 9.3x62 and only wish I could afford one now! Perhaps in the future. I owned and hunted with a ,375 H&H up in Wyoming. But I fell in love with the 9.3x62 at first sight. It is all one ever really needs hunting the timber for bull elk in grizzly country.

@Paparock94
All one ever needs for that game is a 35 Whelen loaded with 250gainers at 2,700fps. Will cover both timber country and ranges out to 300 yards.
Bob

 

[spike.t]

@Paparock94
All one ever needs for that game is a 35 Whelen loaded with 250gainers at 2,700fps. Will cover both timber country and ranges out to 300 yards.
Bob

Ahhhh....Bob give up would you....

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Ahhhh....Bob give up would you....

@spike.t
I thought about it for a long time, maybe a whole second and decided NAH.
Ha ha ha ha ha.
Bob

 

[WAB]

I was just out sighting my 9.3x62 in after swapping scopes. That rifle just puts a big smile on my face! I think I need to get another eland tracking hunt in the Kalahari on the books!

 

[Paparock94]

@Paparock94
All one ever needs for that game is a 35 Whelen loaded with 250gainers at 2,700fps. Will cover both timber country and ranges out to 300 yards.
Bob

I gave my .35 Whelen to my only grandson that is a hunter as he lived in Pennsylvania where there are monster black bears to be hunted. Also a good excuse for me to get that 9.3X62 and maybe my grandson and I can go bear hunting together! He, He!

743-pound bear bagged by Nazareth, PA.​

Record bear in Ulysses, PA,

Record bear in Ulysses, PA

Thought you guys might enjoy the photos and story! This bear was taken in Ulysses, Potter County, not too far south from where some of us live. Ulysses Man Takes Largest Bear In State on first day of bear season PRELIMINARY FIRST-DAY BEAR HARVEST RANKS SECOND HARRISBURG - Pennsylvania Game Commis...

huntingny.com

Now those are NOT your typical black bears!!! There is a HUGE difference between your average North American black bears and these monsters and I am not just talking about mere size but about the bullet construction that it takes to go through the massive amount of mucle and heavy bone to get into where such an animal lives to put them down for keeps. Light deer bullets will never make it through their shoulders into the vitals. You do not want to go into the heavy brush after one of these massive bears after you have wounded it and ticked it off! As the old saying goes use enough gun but also use enough BULLET! I like Nosler but Swift A-Frames might be found in my gun as well.

 

[Paparock94]

What are your favorite bullets for the 9.3x62?

Since, I am in the USA I am especially interested in the performance of bullets on large bears on North America if anyone has first hand experence. The 9.3 is gaining some popularity here it seems and rightly so after its storied reputation in Africa. It seems to me to be the perfect average person's caliber as bear defense in grizzly and brown bear country without having to deal with a magnum rifle.

It would also seem to me as the perfect rifle for trophy class big black bear hunters to put the larger bears down cleanly and swiftly offering both entry and exit holes if tracking is needed offering a more likely blood trail.

 

[John Wasmuth]

I’ve had good fortune using Hornady 286’s and PPU 285’s. Nothing I’ve shot with them has walked away.

 

[WAB]

I know I’m a broken record, but I like the 286 gr Swift A-Frame for heavy stuff. I’ve been shooting the 270 Speer hot cor on small stuff (deer), but really want to work up a load with the 250 gr AB.

 

[Paparock94]

I know I’m a broken record, but I like the 286 gr Swift A-Frame for heavy stuff. I’ve been shooting the 270 Speer hot cor on small stuff (deer), but really want to work up a load with the 250 gr AB.

You are not a broken record! I want to hear about the Swift A-frame. Do you think they are to heavily contructed to upen up good on a heavy say 500lb. bear on a shoulder shot then traveling through the chest? Or do you think the 250 gr. Swift A-Frame would performe better?

 

[WAB]

You are not a broken record! I want to hear about the Swift A-frame. Do you think they are to heavily contructed to upen up good on a heavy say 500lb. bear on a shoulder shot then traveling through the chest? Or do you think the 250 gr. Swift A-Frame would performe better?

They are the only bullet we took for the 9.3 in ‘19. Excellent performance on Cape buffalo, eland, nyala and warthog. I have used 270 gr A-Frames in my .375 on brown bear with excellent results. I would expect the same from either the 250 or 286 gr A-Frames in the 9.3x62.

You should not take a long shot on a brown bear so trajectory is not an issue. I’d lean to the 286.

 

[hawkeyesatx]

The bread and butter bullet weight for the 9.3x62, and other 9.3’s has been the 285 gr - 286 gr bullets.

As I have said in other posts, if you have a good, strong, modern action, you can load the 9.3x62 up to 60k psi, and it’ll flatten the trajectory of the 285-286 gr bullets quite a bit, and still not have a fire breathing, mule kicking monster on your shoulder when hunting.
2400-2500 fps is extremely deadly on anything here in N. America. That’s including the biggest, nastiest, meanest bears here.


Hawk

 

[Puddle]

Yes, the A-Frame is a great, tough bullet. I used the 270 gr. loaded to 2,700 in my 375 H&H on my last trip for all plains game. I'm using the 286 gr. loaded to 2,400 in my 9.3x62 on my next trip.

 

[AZDAVE]

I have used the 300gr Aframe (9.3x74 double) on eland, sable. I have used the 250gr accubond on 14 plains game with wildebeest being the largest and civiet the smallest. I would use the 250's on black bear and the 286 or 300gr on griz/brown bears in a heartbeat.

 

[AZDAVE]

For solids in my 9.3's the swift 286gr and northfolk CPS both shoot to the same POI as the softs in my 9.3x62's and x74 double.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

The bread and butter bullet weight for the 9.3x62, and other 9.3’s has been the 285 gr - 286 gr bullets.

As I have said in other posts, if you have a good, strong, modern action, you can load the 9.3x62 up to 60k psi, and it’ll flatten the trajectory of the 285-286 gr bullets quite a bit, and still not have a fire breathing, mule kicking monster on your shoulder when hunting.
2400-2500 fps is extremely deadly on anything here in N. America. That’s including the biggest, nastiest, meanest bears here.


Hawk

@hawkeyesatx
That's the same with the Whelen.
The 275gn or 280 AFrame at 2,500fps should prove just as deadly. Elmer Keith killed his world record bear with 275gn in his Whelen.

 

[hawkeyesatx]

@hawkeyesatx
That's the same with the Whelen.
The 275gn or 280 AFrame at 2,500fps should prove just as deadly. Elmer Keith killed his world record bear with 275gn in his Whelen.

@Bob Nelson 35Whelen

You are absolutely right about the 35 Whelen as well. It’s the American cousin to the 9.3x62!

Hawk

 

[hawkeyesatx]

Ft-lbs May never actually kill an animal, but hydraulic displacement from the medium bores and up will cause major internal organ disruption, along with the size of wound and blood loss from the size of holes made in the animals.
The .35 Whelen and 9.3x62 create hydraulic displacement above their paper ballistics, and I think that’s why they’ve been around for such a long time.


Hawk

 

[John Wasmuth]

Ft-lbs May never actually kill an animal, but hydraulic displacement from the medium bores and up will cause major internal organ disruption, along with the size of wound and blood loss from the size of holes made in the animals.
The .35 Whelen and 9.3x62 create hydraulic displacement above their paper ballistics, and I think that’s why they’ve been around for such a long time.


Hawk

I’ve yet to find an animal that has read any paper work on what can kill them and what can’t. These two cartridges are pretty good at what they do.

 

[Paparock94]

The reason I like the 9.3 today is the current availibility of great top quailty factory ammo for it as compared to the .35 Whelen which is also a great cartridge. The .338-06 is also a great black bear round but with limited ammo availibility and it diserves a wider following when a magnum is not needed. Some people try to replace magnum power with shooting ability to place a properly constructed bullet where it should go with the first shot which never works out the way they hope.

I loved my .375 H&H, which was custom fited to me by a gunsmith friend of mine. It was more comfortable to shoot than my .30-06. It makes a world of difference when a rifle is set up buy an expert for you. I love medium bores like the .375 H&H!